Okay, my first attempt at red velvet cake without using food coloring failed. It ended up just looking like a light chocolate cake. It tasted pretty good though. More varied flavors than a regular chocolate cake since I tried to use some berries to bring out more red. I forgot... berries tend to turn brown when you cook them.
Stacey's Brown Velvet Cake Ingredients:
The Light Chocolate Cake
2 1/3c unbleached white flour, organic
1/4c cornstarch
1.5c sugar, organic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4c Scharffen Berger cocoa powder
1/2c canola oil, organic
2 eggs, organic
1 1/2c buttermilk, heated with cooked beets
1c pureed strawberries and raspberries (frozen, thawed)
1 tsp white vinegar
2 - 9" round cake pans, lined with parchment paper
The Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
2 packages cream cheese, organic
2 sticks butter, salted, organic
1 tbs vanilla bean paste
1/3c maple syrup
4c confectioners sugar
First, the cake. I preheated the oven to 350F. Then, took two beets, chopped them into little cubes and tried to heat them in the buttermilk. The buttermilk started to separate a bit, so I decided to pull the beets out and cook them separately, hoping that their color would leech better once they were cooked. Once I cooked the beets in a pot for a bit, I put them back into the buttermilk, which turned a nice magenta. Still didn't end up being red enough, but I didn't know that. I strained out the beet pieces.
Then I used my immersion blender to puree the thawed strawberries and raspberries.
I put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mixed with a rubber spatula. I whisked the eggs into the oil a bit with a fork, and then I added all the wet ingredients into the dry and was careful to mix until just combined. Never want to overmix cake. I poured even amounts into the round cake pans. I baked them for about 20-25 minutes, I think. My notes say 20 minutes, but that doesn't quite seem like enough. This is what I get for waiting so long to post...
The batter looked sort of red, but the cake came out looking like this:
I let the cakes cool, and then made the frosting. I warmed the butter and cream cheese slightly, just enough so that it could be blended in my standing mixer and not get all stuck on the whisk attachment. I added the maple syrup and vanilla and then I added confectioners sugar until it was the right taste and consistency. I added about a cup at a time, and 4 cups seemed to do it.
It was for a southern food themed party so I brought my frosting and my cake layers and assembled it there.
My poor brown velvet cake. It tasted good, but it's definitely not a red velvet cake. Back to the drawing board...
Stacey's Brown Velvet Cake Ingredients:
The Light Chocolate Cake
2 1/3c unbleached white flour, organic
1/4c cornstarch
1.5c sugar, organic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4c Scharffen Berger cocoa powder
1/2c canola oil, organic
2 eggs, organic
1 1/2c buttermilk, heated with cooked beets
1c pureed strawberries and raspberries (frozen, thawed)
1 tsp white vinegar
2 - 9" round cake pans, lined with parchment paper
The Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
2 packages cream cheese, organic
2 sticks butter, salted, organic
1 tbs vanilla bean paste
1/3c maple syrup
4c confectioners sugar
First, the cake. I preheated the oven to 350F. Then, took two beets, chopped them into little cubes and tried to heat them in the buttermilk. The buttermilk started to separate a bit, so I decided to pull the beets out and cook them separately, hoping that their color would leech better once they were cooked. Once I cooked the beets in a pot for a bit, I put them back into the buttermilk, which turned a nice magenta. Still didn't end up being red enough, but I didn't know that. I strained out the beet pieces.
Then I used my immersion blender to puree the thawed strawberries and raspberries.
I put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mixed with a rubber spatula. I whisked the eggs into the oil a bit with a fork, and then I added all the wet ingredients into the dry and was careful to mix until just combined. Never want to overmix cake. I poured even amounts into the round cake pans. I baked them for about 20-25 minutes, I think. My notes say 20 minutes, but that doesn't quite seem like enough. This is what I get for waiting so long to post...
The batter looked sort of red, but the cake came out looking like this:
I let the cakes cool, and then made the frosting. I warmed the butter and cream cheese slightly, just enough so that it could be blended in my standing mixer and not get all stuck on the whisk attachment. I added the maple syrup and vanilla and then I added confectioners sugar until it was the right taste and consistency. I added about a cup at a time, and 4 cups seemed to do it.
It was for a southern food themed party so I brought my frosting and my cake layers and assembled it there.
We cut into it and it ended up looking like this:
My poor brown velvet cake. It tasted good, but it's definitely not a red velvet cake. Back to the drawing board...
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